1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of earthquake preparedness and safety and more particularly relates to a mechanical device for installation in cabinets or the like with the objective of securing the door of the cabinet in the event of an earth tremor to keep the contents of the cabinet from spilling out.
2. State of the Prior Art
Many latching or locking devices are known for securing cabinet doors in a closed position. These latching devices, however, require manual operation and are in either a locked or an unlocked condition. Such conventional locks are not helpful in circumstances where the entire cabinet is physically disturbed, upset or shaken as occurs during an earthquake. During such a tremor occupants of a house cannot be relied upon to secure cabinet doors, and it may in fact be dangerous for them to approach an open cabinet, the contents of which may be about to spill out.
What is needed is a simple latching or locking mechanism which can be easily installed in existing cabinets and which under normal circumstances will not interfere with access to the cabinet, but will respond to any significant disturbance of the cabinet by latching the cabinet door against opening until the disturbance has passed. Such a device should also be easy to reset to its stand-by condition after it has been actuated.
Such disturbance responsive door latches can also find application in cabinet installations in vehicles such as motor homes and boats, among others.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,451 issued to Bradey discloses a disturbance responsive magnetic latch which addresses the aforementioned need. This prior art device relies on small permanent magnets attracting a movable latch element when disturbed.
The applicant is unaware of any existing disturbance responsive door latches which are entirely of a mechanical design and do not depend on magnetic attraction.